before we begin really i want to thank ralph reed.and amazing support terrific man, and it's a great honor to be invited back so many times, and i'll be here as often as i can believe me because i'm with you 100%. i also want to thank so many -- i have had so much support as you know we've done very well with the evangelicals and religion generally speaking if you look at what's happened with all the races in south carolina it was supposed to be strong evangelical, i was not supposed to win, and i won in a landslide and so many other places where you have the evangelicals and the heavy christian groups, it's just been an amazing journey. i think we won 37 different states. and the support i've had from you folks is incredible, and i appreciate it very much i happen to be -- go ahead. i happen to be presbyterian. there's three of you out there i think. but it's been really something and some of my friends that are in the room, i appreciate you being here. i want to really thank jerry junior. he's been such a tremendous supporter, as yo

but ralph reed has the keenest political mind in this country.e came to iowa, even after i'd known him for several years, and talked about having affiliation with the national faith and freedom coalition. after he laid out the plan and all that has been done since then in our great state of iowa, making us a force to be reckoned with, i can't say enough about this organization. they've done more than any other nonprofit organization to move the political needle. so without any further ado, my great friend and my mentor, ralph reed. [ applause ] >> thank you very much, steve. how are you all doing? are you having fun? good. are you looking forward to hearing from donald trump a little bit later this morning? [ cheers and applause ] well, we have just two more speakers left. we put carly fiorina right before donald trump. we thought that was creative scheduling. they get an opportunity to interact as one was leaving and the other was coming. and we're really honored to have them, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, the other speakers that we've

before we begin, really, i want to thank ralph reed. he's been an amazing guy and amazing support. terrific man, and it's a great honor to be invited and invited back so many times and i'll be here as often as i can, believe me, because i'm with you 100%. i also want to thank so many -- i've had so much support. as you know, we've done very well with the evangelicals and with religion, generally speaking. if you look what's happened with all of the races, whether it's in south carolina, went there and it was supposed to be very strong evangelical and i was not supposed to win and i won in a landslide and so many places where you had the evangelicals and the heavy christian groups and it was just -- it's been an amazing -- it's been an amazing journey. i think we won 37 different states. and the support that i've had from you folks has been incredible and i appreciate it very much. i happen to be -- go ahead. \[applause] donald trump: i happen to be presbyterian and there's about three of you out there i think. [laughter] but it's been really something and some of my friends that ar

but ralph reed has the keenest political mind in this country. he came to iowa, even after i'd known him for several years, and talked about having affiliation with the national faith and freedom coalition. after he laid out the plan and all that has been done since then in our great state of iowa, making us a force to be reckoned with, i can't say enough about this organization. they've done more than any other nonprofit organization to move the political needle. so without any further ado, my great friend and my mentor, ralph reed. [ applause ] >> thank you very much, steve. how are you all doing? are you having fun? good. are you looking forward to hearing from donald trump a little bit later this morning? [ cheers and applause ] well, we have just two more speakers left. we put carly fiorina right before donald trump. we thought that was creative scheduling. they get an opportunity to interact as one was leaving and the other was coming. and we're really honored to have them, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, the other speakers that we'

joining me now, ralph reed, ralph is also the former chairman of the georgia republican party, and serveds senior adviser to the bush-cheney campaigns. ralph, good to see you. thank you for joining me. >> thanks, alex. good to be with you. >> let a couple key people know a little delay. don't be disconcerted about that. let's talk about trump's speech here. it resonated with those in attendance? yes or no? give me a read on that. >> no, absolutely. i mean, donald trump hit the, you know, the notes that he needed to yesterday. he stressed his common and shared values with not only conservative evangelicals, who are going to represent, by the way, about one out of every four votes that is cast this november, but also faithful frequently mass attended catholics who represent about one out of every ten voters and he stressed his belief in the sanctity of life and traditional marriage and support for the state of israel, in support of religious liberty including cases like hobby lobby and little sisters of the poor, where the obama administration has attempted to trample on the first amendment

joining us now ralph reed served as senior adviser in 2000 and 2004. >> all evangelicals believe youed for god to forgive him, can't name a verse in the bible and refers to to -- >> and won the evangelical vote in the primaries against a field that included two sons of preachers, ted cruz and scott walker, a former preacher, mike huckabee. >> explain that to us. >> it is a teachable moment for everybody about the faith vote in america. the first myth is that they vote based on identity politics. in other words, if somebody goes to the same church i do and they take to the same confession i do i am going to vote for them as opposed to this person over there. not true. never been true. when reagan was asked if he was born again he said we don't use that phrase in my church. he won the is evangelical vote against jimmy carter. the second way trump did it is he understood in a way nobody else understood this was unconventional year that demanded unconventional campaign. he didn't listen to consultant class. >> that guy also at the same time is praising planned parenthood. >> let's be cle

reporter: the faith in freedom forum is one organized by ralph reed, formerly executive director of the christian coalition, prominent policy coalition of leslie five years. in about 90 minutes, 75 minutes, we expect donald trump to come in here accompanied by a parade. we are told they could be as many as 400 additional supporters they will pack into this already crowded room for his remarks. he said number of speeches from terry's including mitch mcconnell and not once has donald trump's name been raised. the senator from alabama one of the first to endorse donald trump, will one of the first senators who helped to write his immigration plan made no mention of him although sessions was clearly talking about pro-trade and anti-immigration policies that trump has based his candidacy on. we expect him here to emphasize his faith, try to reach out to social conservatives. these are not grassroots reporters, these are grassroots organizers, evangelical groups around the country that are active in grassroots politics. the leaders of those organizations are here so this is an opportunity for

i do want to thank my good friend, ralph reed, for inviting me to be a part of this great event. you've got some really great speakers. and what a great group of patriots here in our nation's capital. thank you for being here. and bringing some sanity to washington, d.c. on the weekends, i am usually back at home in louisiana, and one of the questions that i often get at church on sundays is, what are those people in washington thinking? i mean, literally, the world is imploding because of america's failed foreign policy, our economy continues to sputter. terrorist attacks are happening on our own streets. and what is the president of the united states focused on? he's focused on the locker rooms and bathrooms of america. now, i am tempted to say they're not thinking. but trust me, they are thinking. this is the fulfillment of the president's pledge to fundamentally transform america. and this is why americans despice what takes place here in washington, d.c. now, can i interject a little levity? doesn't matter. i will anyway. there was these three men traveling and missed their

but anyway, i am friends with ralph reed, i've been friends with him for years. he wanted me here because of my southern accent, south bronx. but i think -- good, we've got those slides. hopefully i can make this work. we're going to go through some poll numbers. and although i've done polling for over 30 years, our job is to change the polls, to make them come out the way we want to do that. i did recently -- last year i did some work for prime minister netanyahu in israel. he said i was the best irish pollster he ever met. i said, how many have you got here? i thought that was a complemeim. when we began netanyahu's race, we were opposed by barack obama's people. they set up a super pac headed by jeremy byrd and four americans. the whole goal was to beat prime minister netanyahu. they have 11 political parties. the day after the election, netanyahu's campaign manager told me that v-15 had spent twice as much as all 11 political parties combined to try to beat the prime minister. there were plenty of times we were losing in the polls. but at the right time you k

>> well, liz, this was a group the faith and freedom coalition led by ralph reed that donald trump hasn to three different times. today number three. he was there last year as many of the republican candidates when it was a much larger field and as the presumptive nominee on the republican side, he was back there again today. this is a base as you mentioned that has been very, very good to him. think the latest fox news poll shows as it relates to white evangelical voters, he's got it locked up at a three to one count, 63 to 21 over hillary clinton. it was very interesting, liz, in this speech donald trump used the teleprompter. he we'v weaved in and out. but those speech was one time of first public appearances from trump, at least speeches after the whole judge situation for him. and in that speech, trump talked about protecting religious liberty. but went so a step further by also trying to make the case. that he and not hillary clinton would be the candidate best suited to take care of the needs of both african-americans and hispanics. here was trump from your a little while ago th

that is the group of conservative republicans led by ralph reed.rump gave a more subdued speech given for the most part via teleprompter. he talked about the need to talk about religious liberty and pivoted to hillary clinton. trump's comments about judge curiel called racist by democrat and republican leaders, trump, made the case he, not clinton would be the best candidate suited to solve the needs of hispanic and african-americans. here was trump on that front from earlier this afternoon. >> freedom of any kind means no one should be judged by their race or their color and the color of their skin. her education policies, her economic policies, her immigration policies, and her trade policies will plunge our poor african-american, hispanic communities into turmoil and even worse, despair. reporter: evangelical voters were very, very good to donald trump during the republican primary and the latest "fox news poll" shows that very well could be the case in the general as that poll had him up 3 to 1, 63-21 over hillary clinton when it came to white

panel said, with 11,000 evangelical leaders, the who's who of the anti-gay right, gary dobson and ralph reedoes on, people who have made a career of demonizing and denigrating gay people. serious impacts and efforts that have really hurt gay people because of what these folks have done. donald trump is against marriage equality. donald trump says he wants to remake the supreme court and make it even more conservative. donald trump has never been there for the gay community so it is laughable to me that just because he says those four letters he is all of a sudden a champion. he is a magal ho maniacal crazy person. >> chris barron, i can hear you breathing on the other side. you want to jump in, why? >> donald trump is not allowed to talk to evangelical christians but hillary clinton can take $50 million from saudi arabia, that the penalty for being gay in saudi arabia ranges from chemical cass administration to death, so you tell me -- you tell me. donald trump can't talk to evangelical christians but hillary clinton is supposed to be a champion of the gay community and her foundation has li

i want to bring chairman ralph reed.see you, thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks, maria, good morning, good to be with you. maria: will he be able to move the needle today at the talk and how will he resinate in your view with the christians and evangelicals in. >> well, i think we await his remarks, if you look at a lot of the core issues, right for life, support for traditional marriage, defense of the state of israel, opposition to the obama administration's nuclear deal with iran which we now hillary began negotiations for secretly some years ago and religious freedom on all those issues that are core either morale or foreign policy issues, donald trump is in a shared agreement with this constituency. if he emphasizes that today he doesn't need muscle. he not only shares views on those issues but he will fight on those issues, this will be litigated in the course of the campaign but he's got a real opportunity to push his support among evangelicals much higher than the mid-60's and frankly as a pure matter he

before we begin, really, i want to thank ralph reed. he's been just an amazing guy, and amazing support. terrific man, and it's a great honor to be invited, and invited back so many times. and i'll be here as often as i can, believe me, because i'm with you 100%. i also want to thank so many -- i have had so much support. as you know, we have done very well with the evangelicals and with religion generally speaking, if you look at what's happened with all of the races, whether it's in south carolina, i went there and it was supposed to be strong evangelical, and i was not supposed to win and i won in a landslide, and so many other places where you had the evangelicals and you had the heavy christian groups and it was just -- it's been an amazing journey to have -- i think we won 37 different states. and the support that i have had from you folks has been incredible. and i appreciate it very much. i happen to be -- go ahead. [ applause ] i happen to be presbyterian, and there's about three of you out there, i think. but it's been really

before we begin, i want to thank ralph reed. he has been an amazing guy and amazing support.and it is a great man to be invited and invited back summit items. i will be here as awfully -- often as i can. i'm with you 100%. i've had so much supporters, we have done very well within intel calls -- evangelicals and religion generally speaking. if you look at what has happened with all the races, whether it is south carolina, went there and it was supposed be strong evangelical and i wanted a landslide. and so many other places where you have evangelicals and the heavy christian groups and it has been an amazing journey. i think we won 37 different states. the support that i've had from you folks has been incredible and i appreciate it much. [applause] go ahead. [applause] i have to be presbyterian. there are about three of you out there. it has been something. some of my friends in the room, i appreciate you being here. i want to thank gary followed junior. he has been a tremendous support. liberty university. the job he has done is incredible. [applause] right from the beginnin

here is ralph reed, with the face of freedom coalition, evangelicals and you organized this event, ishat correct? >> yes. stuart: what do you want donald trump, what do you expect, what do you hope donald trump says to get the vote of evangelica evangelicals? >> if you look at the polls right now. there are only two since what i would consider a cross-tab in the poll. one is the fox news propose and the other is the ppp poll. he's getting right now 68 to 70% of the vote and hillary 20. that's the historic democratic average, but to win in november, donald trump needs to push that number among evangelicals to 75, maybe 80% e he needs it to get out the vote. >> yeah, i think-- i would not presume to tell donald trump what to say tomorrow when he addresses the majority conference, but number one, you've got to be authentic. you know. stuart: let's be specific. >> remember, they kind of dinged him a little bit for the two corinthians, you don't need to quote scripture, just come and be yourself. no one is asking you to be exactly what they are. the second thing, emphasize the fact that he

ralph reed is the chairman of the faith and freedom coalition, a christian conservative. he set out if you tweet yesterday -- a few tweets yesterday after the report of the deaths and injuries at the polls nightclub. -- the pulse nightclub. what happened is antithetical to the christian faith. this shows that we must do more to protect the united states. alexis is next in wilmington, north carolina on the line for lgbt viewers. go ahead. caller: good morning. i attended the vigil last night for the victims and their families. gay, sheer is openly is married to a woman in the fact,guard who is -- in vigil onated the social media, and we probably maybe toed 20, 150 show up. it was all done quite quickly. host: did your daughter speak at the vigil? caller: my daughter-in-law did, yes. host: what did she say? caller: well, she actually made -- i forget -- harvey milk, who was one of the first outspoken people in california. spoke of love. she reminded us of that. as the tv is showing right now, it says stop the hate. that is what she prayed for. the point i want to make this

yeah, this is the faith and freedom conference here in washington, d.c., this is the ralph reed-led groupectrum, right now i think you can see grover norquist on the stage behind me. donald trump, what can we expect from him? he is going to be talking here in about 15 minutes or so, we believe a speech that's slated to last about 20, 25 minutes. there are teleprompters up there on the stage. trump has been moving in that direction. we'll see if he goes there this afternoon. this is a group, even though there's only about 4-500 in the audience, this is a group that's been very good to donald trump in the recent election, and the fox news poll shows just that. in the latest poll he beats hillary clinton by a 3 to 1 margin, 63-21. so while it's past the primary into the general, it's certainly a group that donald trump is trying to expand upon here, ashley. ashley: blake, thank you. we'll wait and see what mr. trump has to say on the teleprompter. more "varney" after this. ashley: all right. we're very close to the top of the hour. we've got a picture out of washington, d.c. can, the faith a